Mutation ideas to make post-thresh Fish less...bad

Game Talk The Drawing Board
1

Just some ideas for post-threshold mutations unique to Fish.

  • Schooling - Grants the player a variety of passive boosts based on the number of nearby allies. For each visible follower within 5 tiles: +0.5 dodge bonus, +2.5 morale, +2% speed. Subject to balancing.

  • Fins - Grants a large boost to swim speed and +10% overall speed in water.

  • Razorfins (requires Fins) - Growths extending from the sides of the player’s arms. Can be used for fast, moderately damaging cutting attacks when unarmed. The player can still wear clothing on the arms, however this renders the razorfins unusable.

  • Lateral Line - Sensory organ providing a +3 dodge bonus in water, +1 out of water.

  • Luminescent Organ - Togglable utility mutation that allows the player to generate enough light to read and craft by. Might also provide some utility when fishing, such as by increasing speed and success rate when fishing at night.

  • Warning Colors (requires Spots) - Highly visible mutation that discourages natural creatures from attacking the player. Could also be used in the Spider mutation category.

  • Electroreception - Allows the player to detect anything with electrical impulses in its body. Includes all natural living creatures, robots, and CBM zombies (shockers, shocker brutes, technicians, scientists, bio-operators). May or may not include certain Nether creatures.

  • Bioelectric (requires Electroreception) - Provides shockback defense at the expense of 1 hunger each time it is activated.

  • Shark Jaw (requires Fangs, cancels Glass Jaw) - Provides a more powerful opportunistic bite attack.

  • Dermal Denticles (requires Sleek Scales) - Provides resistance to infectionand parasites, and does a small amount of cutting damage to unarmed attackers.

I would also suggest adding some more pre-existing mutations to the Fish category, such as

  • Quills and Venomous - Reminiscent of a lionfish or puffer fish. Venomous on its own also synergizes with Razorfins and gives Warning Colors some merit.

  • Strong - For the strength demonstrated by fish leaping out of the water or slapping fishermen really hard.

  • The Apex Predator series - sharks, piranhas, and barracudas.

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2

Does the electric flag work on NPC’s and monsters or just PC’s? A bioelectric field like an electric eel would be cool and a fitting mutation for the tree.

3

Add a new tag to the game called “Bioelectric” or some such. Basically, a mutation that gives Fish Electroreception, or the ability to sense electrical fields. It’d have limited use on non Cyber-zombies, but it’d also be able to detect anything living because of the bio-electricity it gives off.

Or even better: Add both.

I think “Shark Jaw” should be added. From what I can tell, that was actually planned for Fish. Maybe Denticles, which would be like Quills?

4

Added all the suggested mutations to the list. At this point if these mutations were added I might actually use Fish post-threshold if there was any reason to go underwater. I think someone suggested flooded labs once? Or more aquatic dungeons in general. Underwater temples. River and swamp triffid groves with new appropriate triffid species. Buff up the loot in shipwrecks with shark suits. All of these would act as indirect buffs to the Fish mutation line, making Fish extremely helpful in these cases but not strictly necessary, as diving gear also exists in Cata.

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